Heating furnace for ingots, billets, and the like



Feb. 13, @2a 1,444,918

C.' W. HEPPENSTALL HEATING FURNACE FOR INGOTS, BILLETS, AND THE LIKEFiled Apr. 2l, 1921 2 Sheets-sheet 'l Wa [loess AND THE LIKE 1921 2sheets-sheet 2 Feb. 13, A1923.

- C. W. HEPPENSTALL HEATING FURNACE FOR INGOTS1 BILLETS,

Filed Apr. 2l,

Nwmwvvf1 Q I T Patented lieb. li, lQZl.

NETE@ l Maisie rarest ortica.

HEATING FURNACE FOB INGOTS, IJBJLETS, AND v'IH LIKE.

Application filed April 21, 1921. Serial No, 463,213.

7 1o all 1.o wm t may conce/rn.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. Hnrrn-N- s'rALL, a. citizen of the UnitedStates, and residing in the city of Pittsburgh, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered thenew, useful, and Improved Heat-ing Furnace for lngots, Billets, and thelike, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of certain new and useful improvements in heatingfurnaces for ingots, billets, and the like, and it more par ticularlyrelates to fluid fuel, either gaseous or liquid.

My invention is characterized by new and improved means for preheatingthe air which is used in the fuel burners.

Preheating the air by means of checkerwork is well known in the art; twosets of checkerwork being provided, the hot being passed through one setto heat the same, while the air for the burners is heated by beingpassed through the other set.l

This arrangement requires careful attention,

for if the hot gases are left turned on forA too long a period, thebrickwork is soon burned out and requires rebuilding. Moreover thetemperature to which the air is preheated is not constant or uniform, asthe (.lieckerwork cools rapidly after the ai!" is turned through it.This of course makes thc operation of the furnace irregularnnfl hard tocontrol.

In my improved furnace no duplication of the air preheating mea-ns isrequired, nor is it necessary to have expensive valves and ilues. On thecontrary the preheating mea-ns, which I provide. is in constant usewhile the furnace is in operation, and the tem peinture to which the airis preheated is kept uniform; thereby enabling vme to obtain the bestresults from the furn. e.

`Generally speaking my improved furnarie comprises a heating compartmenton the floor of which are placed the ingots or billets. and into whichthe burners project the gas or oilv flames; a picheating compartmentinto which a portion of Vthe hot gases or products of combustion areadmitted from the heating chamber, and an air chamber in the upper partof the prcheating compartment and to which chamber the air is suppliedto be heated, under constant pressure, and from which the air is fed tothe burners.

Other novel features'of Construction, and of arrangement of parts willappear from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, which are, however, merely intended toillustrate a practical embodiment of the principles of my inventionwithout vlimiting the scope thereof to the construction shown, Fig l. isa vertical longitudinal'section of a heating furnace embodying theprinciples of my inl vention taken along the line I-I in Fig.` 3; Fig. 2is a vertical section taken along the line H-II in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is ahorizontal section taken along the irregular `line lII-llI in Fig. l,and Fig. 4 isA avertical section taken along the V--lV in Figz. a

The following is a. detailed description of the drawings.

The furnace is composed of two main compartments included between the`side walls l. The. front compartment A, in which the ingots or billetsare heated, is separated from the rear compartment B by means of thewall The floor 3 of the furnace preferably extends through the twocompartments'. 4 repy resents one or more arched ports below or in` thewall 2 connecting the two compartments preferably at or near theirbottoms.' 5 is the roof of the compartmentA, and 6 is the ver ticallysliding door which forms the front closure for the heating vchamber A. l

C is a1 closed :airgchamber in the upper part of the'compartment' I showthe same in the form of a steel tank which spans said compartmenttransversely, its ends resting in the side walls l which are built uparound and above the tank. The front and rear walls of the compartment Bare preferably reduced in thickness, as at 6"l to insure free passagefor the hot gases up around the sides of the tank C. The top closure ofthe compartment B. vwhich isv spaced well above the tank C. is shown inthe form of a Vreili'ractor;v tile and 8 represents one or morerelatively small ports for the escape of the hot gases from compartmentB.

9 is an air-supply pipe, connected to a blower or other source ofcompressed air, not shown, and leading down through the closure 7 to thetop of the tank C, and l() represents the airl supply pipes leading fromeither end of the tank C to the air passages of the fuel burners D whichproject into `irregular line ports ll in the side walls of the heatingcoinpartinent A. One of said lnirnersf` is preferably near the front ofthe compartment A, While the other is near the longitudinal center oli'the compartment, as indicated in Fi 3.

. rl`he escape for the lmajor portion of the hot `rases from thecompartment A is through the ports 12 in the front sides of saidcompartment connecting with the vertical fines i3, ,which conn/etattheir lower ends with the cross flue lll, which in turn connects withthe stack flue l5.

y .t is evident that when the furnace is in operation a portion of thehot gases will pass rearwardly through the port fl into the coinpartmentB, rising` up around the tank C and filling the crown ,of thecompartment B, thus thoreughlyand uniformlyheating -said tank. Theescape of the hot gases from the compartment B is retarded by thelimited Cereeity @f the small Ports 8- es a result the air, under theproper pressure, maintained by the blower, Will be supplied at a uniformtemperature `to the burners, and the teinperatureof the heatingcompartment A is thus kept at the proper deheating of the airaccomplished by means of a single, automatically operating mechanism,`there is no danger of fluctuations of furnace temperature owing to theneglect of the operator, and thus the best and inost uniform results areobtainable.

lily iniproved air-preheating mechanism. is much less expensive to buildand maintain than the checkerwork now in general use, and When repairsare necessary, the same can be made in much less time and with much lessexpense.

Thepercentage of the hot gases or products lof combustion admitted fromthe compartment A to the compartmei'it `B may be varied. l have obtainedexcellent results in practice by permitting all of the hot gases fromthe chamber A to enter the chamber B.

What l desire to claim is l. In a heath-1p,` furnace of the characterdescribed, the combination of a heatingl coinpartmcnt, fiuid fuelburners projecting` into said compartment, a second compartmentcommunicating,` With said. heating compartn'ient to receive hot gasestherefrom, a 4closed `chamber supported in the upper portion of saidsecond compartment connected to a supply of air under pressure, saidsecond com pertinent being provided above said closed chamber withrelatively small ports for the 'escape ofthe hot gases into theatmospherej and pipes connecting said closed chamber With said burners,for the purpose described.

2. In a. heating furnace of the character described, the combination ofavheating compartment, fluid fuel burners (ilisrharging into saidheating compartment, a second compartment lcommuni ating` with theheating couipartnient 'to receive hot `rases therefrom, an enclosedchamber Within said second named compartment connected to a supply ofair under pressure, pipes connecting said closed chamber with saidburners, and a choked escape for the gases from the second namedcompartment.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Pa., this 19th day of April, 192i.

CHARLES lV. HEPPENSTALL.

